Speech Recognition Software Accelerates Transition to EHR

By HospiMedica International staff writers
Posted on 18 May 2009
Real-time speech recognition software can significantly accelerate the transition to, and utilization of, electronic health records (EHRs).

Dragon Medical voice recognition software is used to dictate the narrative component of patient visits; as a result, speech-driven clinical documentation is available in real time, patient notes are more detailed, and patient care in general is improved. The software can make clinicians up to 25% more efficient with an EHR when compared to using a non-voice-enabled system. Additionally, desktop speech recognition--when used to directly control an EHR system--can provide faster medical report turn-around time, better service to patients, sharply reduced costs, and increased productivity. Benefits for healthcare organizations that provide physicians with a speech-enabled EHR include reduced transcription costs, compared to traditional manual transcription; medical reports can be created faster, since using speech helps the physician create patient documents at the point of care, resulting in faster turn-around times and more accurate, thorough patient records. By using speech recognition to navigate and dictate directly into the EHR system, clinicians can eliminate hours of typing, clicking and scrolling, allowing them to spend more time providing patient care and increasing their satisfaction with the entire documentation process. According to a survey completed by 1,255 physicians who use Dragon Medical software, 83% said that it improved the quality of their electronic patient notes; 81% said that it significantly reduced transcription spending, and 69% said it made their EHR faster and easier to use. Dragon medical software is a product of Nuance Communications (Burlington, MA, USA).

"Today, more than 20% of all physicians in North America use speech solutions from Nuance to generate over 800 million electronic medical records a year,” said Peter Durlach, senior VP of marketing and product strategy at Nuance. "Dragon Medical is increasingly recognized as an essential component to EHR rollout as healthcare provider organizations work to implement, and effectively utilize EHR systems.”

"Our physician clients have embraced Dragon Medical as the primary and best means of speech-enabling their electronic health records, because Dragon Medical helps them to quickly and easily create high quality, real-time patient documentation,” said Glen Tullman, CEO of Allscripts (Chicago, IL, USA), a leading EHR vendor.

Related Links:
Nuance Communications
Allscripts


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